The immediate Leviticus chapters leading up to the Day of Atonement focused on “cleansing.” And so do the chapters immediately after the Day of Atonement. It’s all about “Holiness” in Leviticus!

Chapters 1-15 … getting ready to worship!

Chapter 16 … leaning HOW to worship!

Chapters 17-27 … maintaining that worship/fellowship/communion relationship with the Lord God!

See the order, the logic, the beauty?

This is the Section of the Book that will give Israel her “Calendar” for the rest of her days. The proper Times to come and worship the Lord! (And what an amazing Calendar it is! It sure surpasses our paltry man-made Holidays, pitiful in comparison!)

I think if one should summarize the Contents of these remaining Leviticus chapters (again 17-27) … it might be experiencing/enjoying “Life with God! In some ways this Block/Portion of Leviticus is the “most intimate” of all the Book!

After the giving of the Five Offerings (previous Lessons cover each of these) in chapters 1-7, ordaining the Priests for their worthy Ministry in chapters 8 and 9, the horrible sin of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10, distinguishing between the clean and the unclean in chapters 11-15 … ALL PREPARING FOR THE DAY OF ATONMENT EVENT in chapter 16 … we spend the rest of Leviticus learning to distinguish between the “holy” and the “profane!” Learning to live in God’s Presence, chapters 17-27.

Now to be a little more precise.

Chapters 17-22 give us “holiness Laws” of various kinds. Because “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness?” Exodus 15:11

Maybe Leviticus 19:2 is more poignant. “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”

Then chapters 23-25 give us the “Appointed Times” for worshipping this Holy God, that Calendar of which I spoke.

Chapter 26 then issues a list of “blessings” or “curses” for following God’s Laws … or disobeying them.

And chapter 27 is sort of a conclusion, an appendix to the whole divinely inspired Book!

Well, I fell like we are beginning again! Wading into the final “third” of Leviticus.

What a Book of Scripture!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Watch this please, carefully.

Follow my reasoning.

When NOAH stepped off the ark, into a “freshly cleansed” world … he offered a burnt offering unto the Lord. “And Noah went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an ALTAR unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered BURNT OFFERINGS on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.” Genesis 8:18-21, God pleased and the curse removed! This happened, by the way, on a mountain (Ararat)!

ABRAHAM too was asked to ascend a mountain (Moriah) and offer a sacrifice unto God. His only Son Isaac to be precise! God to Abraham: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of MORIAH; and offer him there for a BURNT OFFERING upon one of the MOUNTAINS I will tell thee of.” (Genesis 22:2) But, still at God’s behest: “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a BURNT OFFERING in the stead of his son.” Genesis 22:13, Abraham serving as a priest, on a mountain!

Yet again in the Pentateuch (recall the Lesson title) MOSES, after the golden calf debacle in Israel … climbed the MOUNTAIN (SINAI) and OFFERED HIMSELF (or certainly was willing to do such) as an ATONEMENT for Israel his people! (That is certainly priesthood in action!) “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will GO UP unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an ATONEMENT for your SIN. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt FORGIVE their sin–; and IF NOT, BLOT ME, I pray thee, OUT OF THY BOOK which thou hast written.” Exodus 32:30-32, amazing!

Now with those three examples in mind (Noah and Abraham and Moses) … each associated with mountains and sin and atonement/forgiveness … might it be possible to suggest that one more Pentateuchal figure (ADAM) might have done something along the same line … when his wife Eve sinned?

Remember Paul here … “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And ADAM WAS NOT DECEIVED, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:13-14) There were a few minutes or seconds or some space of time … when Eve was a sinner and Adam was not! Plus … Eden also is spoken of as a “mountain” in Scripture. (See Ezekiel 28:13-14 where Eden is called “the holy mountain of God.”)

Might ADAM have offered blood sacrifice that day for his bride? On the mountain, as a priest for his family? (He in fact being the first priest in the Bible!) If so … the Jewish High Priest Aaron on the Day of Atonement reversed what Adam failed to do! (Remember that the Abode of God, the Tabernacle/Temple, is always pictured in Scripture as a “mountain!” As in “LORD, who shall abide in thy TABERNACLE? who shall dwell in THY HOLY HILL?” Psalm 15:1)

Wow!

Now AARON as an “Adam” figure, as “Priest” … making atonement (not only for a bride) for a WHOLE NATION!

And this brings me to the Lord Jesus Christ our great HIGH PRIEST (Who also is seen in the Pentateuch again and again) Who One Day (in a sense, the very fulfillment of the great Day of Atonement) ascended a MOUNTAIN (Golgotha, Calvary, just as well say MORIAH) and OFFERED HIMSELF a burnt offering and peace offering and sin offering and trespass offering to atone for our iniquity!

Hallelujah!

And the Pentateuch, with its central Book of Leviticus … is boring, drab, some say?

No way!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Yes, to my satisfaction a Pattern has been established! “Without shedding of blood is no remission of sin.” Hebrews 9:22

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I noticed this Truth several days ago, preparing to write these Leviticus Lessons. Then last night late it “impressed” me again.

“And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself. And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and HIS HANDS FULL OF SWEET INCENSE BEATEN SMALL, and bring it within the vail: and he shall put the INCENSE upon the fire before the LORD, that THE CLOUD OF THE INCENSE may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” Leviticus 16:12-14

Particularly notice the “incense” here! (A Hebrew word meaning “to burn,” but translated “perfume” 3 times in the King James Version of the Bible!)

Not just a “handful” but “hands full!”

Lots of it!

Then two adjectives … “sweet” and (beaten) “small!”

This “incense” is normally burned on the “Golden Altar” nearest the Veil that separates the holy Place from the Most holy Place. But on that Day (the Day of Atonement) it is to be carried by Aaron into the very Throne Room of God (so to speak, Leviticus 16:2c) … a requirement, lest Aaron die.

This is indeed “burning sweet incense,” a double portion looks like … creating “smoke” (not the best word, a “cloud”) of protection for Aaron! Shielding him from the Very Glory of God … “which no man can see, and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

Now much could be said about this incense, but today I want to emphasize this: Aaron was to meet God “in the clouds!”

The clouds of sweet smelling smoke that “censer” would emit! (“A censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.” Going back to verses 12 and 13.)

Today’s “point” …

Aaron was to meet God “in the clouds!”

And when Jesus comes back again to “receive us unto Himself” … we also shall meet Him “in the clouds!” As Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 … “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them IN THE CLOUDS, to meet the Lord in the air.”

Wow!

What a striking parallel!

We, as priests, shall meet the Lord (Who shed His incorruptible Blood for our Atonement) “in the clouds,” just as Aaron (Israel’s Priest) met the Lord so long ago. And both “meetings” are possible only through Blood offered unto Almighty God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20, often called “the Bible’s last prayer!”

That incense “beaten small” and so very “sweet smelling” to the Nostrils of God … is likely a picture of Jesus our Lord as Intercessor on our behalf at the Right Hand of the Father. His Prayers being comparable to His many “requests” lofting upward for our sakes! (Beaten? And burned, the incense? Yes, symbols of Jesus’ suffering and pressure suffered here on earth … even prior to Calvary, during His earthly Life (as our Meat/Meal Offering, Leviticus chapter 2.) Not just “beaten,” but “beaten small!” Pulverized!

Wow!

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There is reason to believe that the very day Nadab and Abihu so egregiously sinned is also the very day God gave these (Leviticus 16) instructions on enacting the Day of Atonement! Here’s how our chapter begins: “And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; and the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother ….”

Certainly the Tabernacle was defiled that day, the day those two foolish men unlawfully tried to enter into the Presence of God!

And part of the Day of Atonement rites purged the holy “Tent” of God. I mean right from the Mercy Seat Itself … “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times..” Leviticus 16:14

Then, going outward … “He shall make an atonement for the Holy Place (where sat the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstand), because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation.” Verse 16

Then, further eastward yet (still outward) … “And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD (the brass altar at the door of the Tabernacle), and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.” Verse 18

Verse 20 recapitulates … “And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring ….”

Cleansing the whole Tabernacle, which had been defiled over the past year … from inside to outside!

Now here’s my “point” today. That’s the exact direction sin erupted (from west to east) in the Garden of Eden and its aftermath!

Adam and Eve sinned (as it were) in the “Holy of Holies!” (Where God came down and walked with them “every cool of the day!” Genesis 3:8)

Then … God cast them out of the Garden “eastward.” Where Cain killed Abel … and was expelled (moved) “east of Eden.” (“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16)

Then sin spread all over the world, by Noah’s day anyhow! As men began to multiply … “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

Just as sin crept eastward from God’s Presence … so did the Blood Cleansing on the Day of Atonement travel from east to west! Purging sin everywhere in Israel! Even typically out “into the wilderness,” as per the scapegoat!

God has a good (omnipotent) sense of direction!

Is there anything to this “east-west” idea of Brother Bagwells? You must decide that as led of the Holy Spirit.

But I will close with this verse today … “As far as the EAST is from the WEST, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It is undoubtedly the “highest” Day of the year in the Jewish Calendar, the great Day of Atonement. (All their God given “Holy Days” being discussed in Leviticus chapter 23, an upcoming study, the Lord willing.)

And one of the reasons is that this Day (meaning the blood shed that day in accordance with God’s specific instructions) brought for Israel “forgiveness” (or “atonement,” the Old Testament word) for a whole year!

Leviticus 16:34 … “And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins ONCE A YEAR.” Yet … as you can see, to be repeated annually.

But still … the vast scope of this forgiveness!

As is presented in Leviticus 16:21-22 … “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the INIQUITIES of the children of Israel, and all their TRANSGRESSIONS in all their SINS, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their INIQUITIES unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”

Look at this “list” of wrongs covered/atoned/forgiven by God on that amazing Day! (As you can see, I have capitalized them.)

The actual Hebrew words:

“Iniquities,” spelled “avon,” meaning “distortion, perversity!” Things we have “twisted” from God’s original Plan for humanity.

“Transgressions,” spelled “pasha,” meaning “rebellion!” (1 Samuel 15:23 … “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft!”)

“Sins,” spelled “chattaah,” meaning “to miss out on” God’s Salvation, God’s Will, God’s Best for your life! (As in “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23)

Then in our text, mentioned yet a second time … “iniquities” … still spelled “avon,” and still meaning “twisted perversions,” rejecting God’s Ways … as though we people needed double forgiveness in this area! And we surely do live in a perverted society!

What range, what vastness, what forgiveness!

What Grace!

What a God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Hallelujah!

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